Sound of Freedom film producer plots long-shot bid for Mexican presidency

The producer of a surprise US box office hit widely embraced by followers of the extremist Q-Anon conspiracy theory is attempting a long-shot run for president in Mexico.

Shortly before a deadline late on Thursday, Eduardo Verástegui, producer of Sound of Freedom, filed paperwork to run as an independent candidate in the June 2024 election.

Verástegui, 49, is a familiar face in Mexico where he was a pop star and soap opera actor for many years. More recently he has become an ultra-conservative activist, campaigning against abortion and conducting prayers on social media, where he has millions of followers.

He hinted at a presidential run for months, posting a video in which he called on his followers to build “the Mexican dream” and riding on the surprise success of the independent feature film Sound of Freedom.

The movie, about a US federal agent busting a child trafficking ring in Colombia, has taken almost $200m in the US and was released across Latin America and Europe on 31 August.

The film, which purports to be based on real events, has resonated with conservative audiences, including followers of QAnon, the baseless internet theory whose followers believe that Satan-worshipping politicians and celebrities engage in paedophilia, human trafficking and organ trafficking.

Alejandro Monteverde, the film’s director, has denied that the film has any ties to QAnon, pointing out that work on the film began in 2015, before QAnon emerged online. The film’s star, Jim Caviezel, has also denied links to QAnon but has echoed claims made by the conspiracy theory’s supporters.

Verástegui, who also acts in the film, toured the Americas while promoting the film, meeting with rightwing figures including Donald Trump – who held a private screening of the movie – El Salvador’s authoritarian ruler, Nayib Bukele, and Javier Milei, the extremist libertarian frontrunner in Argentina’s presidential election next month.

Verástegui has been positioning himself to be their equivalent in Mexico.

In 2022 he hosted the Conservative Political Action Conference in Mexico, an international forum that brings far-right leaders from around the world together.

He then set up a civil society group, Viva México, that advocates an ultra-conservative, Catholic political project.

He has portrayed himself as the leader of a new, true right, in an apparent attempt to bleed followers from the Pan, Mexico’s main rightwing party which, like the other traditional parties, has come to be reviled for corruption.

If he succeeds in gaining a place on the ballot, he would probably take votes from the Pan candidate, Xóchitl Gálvez, who is the candidate of the broad opposition coalition but has relatively progressive politics sit uncomfortably with its more conservative voters. That would favour Claudia Sheinbaum, candidate of the governing leftwing Morena party.

“The parasites of power have killed the Pan with a shotgun model Xóchitl calibre 666 … today that party and Morena are exactly the same,” said Verástegui in a clip from 5 July.

Nonetheless Verástegui’s electoral prospects seem limited. It is not clear that he has a base, nor whether his association with Trump is an advantage.

To win a place on the ballot in June 2024, Verástegui has until January to win signatures of support from 1% of voters distributed across at least 17 states.

“I don’t think this is the moment for this political movement in Mexico,” said Vanessa Romero Rocha, a political analyst. “But the next electoral cycle might be – especially if we don’t manage to solve the problem of violence in this country.”